Teenage zookeeper dies after being mauled by brown bear at Swedish zoo

A zookeeper has died after being attacked by a bear at a wildlife park in Sweden, it has been reported.

The 19-year-old, who has not yet been named, was cleaning an enclosure at the Orsa Rovdjurspark in Sweden on Friday (4 August) when he was mauled by a brown bear.

The animal had reportedly tunnelled its way under a fence. Four visitors were also inside the enclosure at the time taking part in an activity to experience the work of an animal keeper at one of Europe's largest wildlife parks.

While the visitors, believed to be members of the same family, witnessed the attack, they were unharmed in the incident.

Paramedics arrived at the scene and the young zoo keeper was taken by helicopter to hospital, however he later died from bite wounds. The two-year-old bear was euthanised after the attack.

Sven Brunberg, a spokesman for the wildlife park said: "It started out as a normal day, a family had booked the activity and normal routines were followed."

Insisting that park guests were not in danger he added: "I'll leave it to the police to work out what went wrong."

Officers are investigating whether proper safety procedures were followed Sky News reports.

Orsa Rovdjurspark, which is based about 205 miles north of Stockholm, has predators including different species of bears, leopards, Siberian tigers, wolves and lynxes among its animals, and offers "close encounters with powerful animals".

A post on the park's Facebook page said the attraction was closed immediately after Friday's incident, but it would reopen on Saturday.